The Record-Breaker: Skylar Diggins
The standout Storm player advocating for women in sports.
By Danny O’Neil January 14, 2026
This article originally appeared in the January/February 2026 issue of Seattle magazine.
Skylar Diggins was a star before she ever touched down in Seattle.
She’d won an Olympic gold medal in 2020, been named a WNBA All-Star six times, and pioneered a new era of marketing opportunities. She was the first women’s basketball player to have more than 1 million followers on Instagram and one of the very first athletes signed to Jay Z’s sports agency, Roc Nation Sports.
Still, she wasn’t sure what to expect when she joined the Storm in 2024. She was 33 years old and had not played in a WNBA game for more than a year after giving birth for the second time. “I was coming off maternity,” she says, “and just kind of uncertain if I could play at a high level again. There’s not a big sample size on how to do it.”
“The whole situation of being in Seattle, it has been breathing life into me, into my career. It just gave me a renewed sense of passion for the game and love for the game.”
In 2019, Diggins spoke up about the lack of support she received during her first pregnancy. She said she’d hidden the fact she was pregnant from her team the previous year because she was unsure what the reaction would be, and the following year had to take a leave to deal with postpartum depression. It was only in 2020 that the WNBA began offering its players full-paid maternity leave.
In Seattle, Diggins found the support she needed both from the franchise and the city. She has averaged more than 15 points in each of her two seasons with the Storm, and made her seventh trip to the WNBA’s All-Star Game, where she set a record with 15 assists and the first-ever triple-double in All-Star Game history.
“The whole situation of being in Seattle, it has been breathing life into me, into my career,” Diggins says. “It just gave me a renewed sense of passion for the game and love for the game.”
More than a decade into her professional career, Diggins continues to redefine what is possible for women in basketball and in life. She is a vocal advocate of pay equity, speaking out about the wage gap between the WNBA and NBA, and encouraging companies to bring more marketing dollars and branding opportunities to women’s sports teams.
“The resources here from this organization are first class,” Diggins says, “and I’ve loved every experience being a part of the city.”
About Most Influential
Every year, Seattle magazine’s Most Influential list takes a close look at the people shaping the city right now. The 2025 cohort spans politics, philanthropy, arts, hospitality, business, and community work, highlighting leaders whose influence shows up in tangible ways across the city. Some are longtime fixtures. Others are newer voices. What connects them is impact—and the ability to move ideas, systems, and conversations forward as the city heads into 2026.
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